Article of manufacture



930. w. H. SOMMER 1,770,017

ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE Filed May 11, 1928 l 1 l 1 a 5 p 1 'uvzjzfi- Patented July 8, 1930 PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM H. SOMMER, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE Application filed May 11, 1828. Serial No. 276,949.

This invention has reference to an article of manufacture and comprises specifically a reinforcing article for strengthening and reinforcing material, such as concrete, and is especially adapted for use in concrete road building, altho may be found to be useful in other reinforcing work.

The invention resides in a reinforcing wire fabric which includes a plurality of suitably spaced longitudinal wires, and a plurality of suitably spaced cross or transversewires, each of which is welded to the longitudinal wires where theyintersect the same; the ends of the cross wires being flush with the outside or marginal longitudinal wires, thereby leaving no projecting ends beyond the outside or marginal longitudinal wires and, therefore, the lacerating of the bodies of persons handling the fabric and the tearing of their garments is entirely obviated; likewise the catching of the otherwise projecting ends of the cross wires in various objects, resulting.

in tearing apart such cross wires from the outside or marginal longitudinalwires is entirely prevented and the finished fabric thereby more conveniently and expeditiously handled.

In the drawings Fig. 1 shows a section taken from a piece of reinforcing wire fabric, made in accordance with my invention, and

Fig. 2 is an end view looking at a plurality of longitudinal wires and a cross wire welded thereto.

The fabric includes a plurality of suitably spaced wires a and a plurality of suitably spaced wires 6 laid across the longitudinal wires a and welded to the wires a, where they intersect, as at a.

The spirit of this invention lies in the mak ing of such a reinforcing article or fabric with the ends of the cross wires 7) terminating flush with the outside or marginal wires (1,

as at d, as and for the purposes which I have he'reinabove pointed out. I am aware that it is not new to manufacture a wire fabric for reinforcing purposes, where ci'oss wires are welded to longitudinal wires, as I have been doing this for some time past, but in articles of this character which I have been manufacturing and all such articles with which I am familiar, the ends of the cross wires 6 have projected beyond the outside or marginal longitudinal wires a, offering many serious objections to the practical handling and use of such articles. Fabrics of this character are very heavy, bunglesome and inconvenient to handle, being made at times 7 prevented in a fabric such as I disclose and i the fabric thereby more conveniently and expeditiously handled.

It is the practice and has been, in the art, in the manufacture of welded fabrics, used for reinforcing, to feed the feed wire comprising the cross wires 72 across the longitudinal wires a to a point, before severing a transverse cross wire length from the feed wire, so that ends of the cross wires 7) project beyond the outside or marginal longitudinal wires a. Such projecting ends have proven very objectionable when handling the fabric, which is sometimes furnished in rolls, also in flats, depending on how the fabric is to be used. These projecting ends become bent, through handling, and prevent the fabric from lying flat in or against material to be reinforced and necessitates straightening, which is costly and laborious. Furthermore, these projecting ends lacerate the bodies of persons handling the fabric, doing considerable damage, whlch is dangerous,as well as tear the garments of the handlers; also such projecting ends of the cross wires get caught in various objects, retarding and delaying the work, resulting not only in bending such ends, requiring straightening, but frequently causing a tearing apart or separation of the transverse wires from the longitudinal wires, making handling inconvenient and requiring the straightening out of the wires and fabric before placement for reinforcing. It is the practice to weld only sufficiently to make a union between the, longitudinal and cross wires, such as to hold the fabric together and it is, therefore, obvious that any undue strain such as could be exerted on the projecting ends of the cross wires will bend such ends and require straightening or tear the fabric apart and weaken reinforcement Work at points of such unequal placement of the such fabrics, it is difiicult to regulate the cross wire lengths b so that each successive feeding of a cross wire will be of the same length, as the preceding cross wire, they may be shorter or longer, due to irregularities in the wire or causes resulting from imperfect operations in the feeding mechanism, which, while such operations can be checked from time to time, it is not possible to prevent errors from creeping into such operations. On the other hand, were it possible to feed regular and corresponding lengths of cross wires 6 across the series of longitudinal wires a with the ends of each wire 6 flush with the marginal wires a, the fusing of the ends of the cross wires 6 with the bodies of the marginal wires a would be faulty and a good union practically impossible, and it is, therefore, desirable to provide longer lengths of cross wires 6 than are necessary and subsequently sever the projecting ends of the cross wires flush with the marginal wires a. In order to obtain a good weld or union at the intersections of the wires 6 with the marginal wires a, there should be an equal amount or area of contact of the welded dies on each of the wires a and b. If this is not obtained there is a tendency for one wire to get a less amount of heat than the other wire, resulting in one wire fusing more rapidly than the the other wire and due to this uneven temperature of the two. wires there will be a tendency for the unmelted portion of one wire to indent itself into the other wire, tripping the control switches of the machine without the two wires fusing together.

have hereinabove pointed out the diificulties which have been encountered not only in the manufacture of reinforcing wire fabrics but also in the use of such fabrics as I have been manufacturing to show the novelty and advantages residing in such a fabric where the projecting ends of the cross wires at the outside marginal longitudinal wires have been eliminated. It is obvious that in the production of fabrics of this character which are made by automatic machines that such machines must be provided with means for progressively and successively severing the pro jecting ends of the cross wires as it would be too expensive, laborious and tedious to attempt to do this work by hand and that, therefore, the article resulting from such manufacture involves novel and patentable subject matter. 7

What I claim is An article of manufacture comprising a reinforcing wire fabric including a plurality of spaced longitudinal wires and a plurality of spaced cross wires welded to the longitudinal wires where they intersect the same, the ends of saidcross wires terminating flush with the outer circumferential side of the marginal or selvage longitudinal wires, thereby leaving no projecting ends of the cross wires beyond the outside or marginal longitudinal wires.

WILLIAM H. SOLIMER. 

